“Sasaengpaen” or K-pop Fan? Singapore Youths, Authentic Identities, and Asian Media Fandom

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, the Korean pop-culture wave has had a huge impact, achieving immense popularity and sustaining a global community of consumers and fans. In Singapore, a significant K-pop fan culture has emerged among youths. In this article, we study the emergence of the sasaeng fan—a stigmatized fan identity that refers to individuals who are unhealthily interested in the personal lives of K-pop idols. Drawing on data from mass and social media, participant-observation, and interviews, we map the significance of the sasaeng fan identity for Singapore K-pop music fans and focus specific attention on how fans negotiate an understanding of their own “authentic” identities vis-à-vis the mediated identity of the sasaeng fan.

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